For the ninth day in a row, the ancient city of Jericho in the occupied West Bank remains under a suffocating Israeli military siege, with checkpoints stifling Palestinian traffic on all the entrances to the city. Temporary military checkpoints have been set up by the Israeli occupation army at all the main entrances to Jericho since last week, resulting in traffic jams and unusually long queues of vehicles as soldiers thoroughly inspect drivers and commuters’ identity cards and their belongings. Palestinians trying to leave the city or enter it and those wanting to travel abroad who have to go through Jericho now have to wait for long hours at the military checkpoints erected at the roads leading out of the city. Jericho and the adjacent Aqabat Jabr refugee camp were the scenes of repeated Israeli military assaults since early February, including a bloody army attack on the refugee camp on February 6 that left five Palestinians killed. At this time of the year, the city usually attacks dozens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank and the 1948-occupied territories who visit the city, considered a tourist destination, to spend their vacation time.
Source: Palestine News & Information Agency (WAFA)